Poster Presentation Australian Diabetes Society and the Australian Diabetes Educators Association Annual Scientific Meeting 2017

Evaluation of diabetes education service and experiences in patients with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes. (#365)

Charlotte Hurburgh 1 , Katerina Kiburg 1 2 , Glenn Ward 1 2 3 , Margaret Loh 1 , Elizabeth Mulrooney 1 , Lisa Iulianetti 1 , Chris Uren 1 , Kathleen Steele 1 , Richard MacIsaac 1 4
  1. St Vincents Hospital Melbourne, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia
  2. St Vincents Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia
  3. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, St Vincents Hospital Melbourne, Fitzroy, Victoria, Australia
  4. Department of Medicine, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

Background:

 

The first point of contact for patients newly diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes is critical in their future management and care. A formally structured diabetes education program for patients newly diagnosed with type 1 diabetes is not offered at our institution.

 

Aims:

To review the Diabetes Education program for patients with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes and bench mark against current best practice guidelines.

 

Methods:

A literature search was completed to determine current best practice. There was no consensus for recommendations on best practice management of newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes . Ethics approval was obtained for a low risk quality assurance project. Patients were retrospectively identified using Australian Refined Diagnosis Related Groups for type 1 diabetes from December 2014 to December 2016.  A questionnaire investigating patient’s perception of their experience was developed and completed via telephone or in person. Results were entered into a database and basic statistical analysis was conducted in Excel.

 

Results:

 

21 patients were identified, patients were excluded for reasons including; incarceration, age under 18 and being diagnosed at another hospital, 11 participated in the survey 9 were inpatients (82%) with an average stay length of 3.56 days. 82% of patients reported feeling well supported and knew who to contact for help. 55% of patients received a dietician consultation within 3 days of diagnosis. Improvements recommended included: time in hospital to learn self- management skills (72% satisfaction), extra support for patients not admitted to hospital (67% satisfaction) and increased time with doctors (80% satisfaction).

 

Conclusions:

The Diabetes Education program for patients with newly diagnosed type 1 diabetes was reviewed. A lack of formalised programs were found in the literature for benchmarking. 82% patients reported feeling well supported. Areas of improvement were detailed and the current program will be reviewed and necessary changes made to further improve our service.